Olov Simonsson

I am an historian who in 2019 defended my doctoral thesis God Rests in Rwanda: The Role of Religion in the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. My main research interest lies in the role of religion in genocides and mass-violence. My current project concerns how perpetrators of the Holocaust and in the genocide in Rwanda reconciled genocidal violence with their Christian faith.

My publications and theses have mainly focused on rhetorical use of history and religion in relation to genocides and mass killings in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. My doctoral thesis and a chapter in the Routhledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide analysed the use of religious language and imagery in extremist hate propaganda in relation to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

I have taught on the MA-course Genocide and mass violence at the Hugo Valentin Centre, giving lectures on the genocide in Rwanda, both overview and the transitional judicial processes afterwards. I have also taught modern history at the history department, as well as supervised a large number of students, both at Bachelor and MA level.